Varian and the Seven Trials

Breaking the Ice

A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in a few weeks! I was struggling to write chapter 6 and I wanted to wait until I was done with that to post ch 5 but it's almost done now!

tw // short (implied) anxiety attacks

Varian made a swipe for Hugo's face and barely missed as the blonde dodged. "Not even close, Goggles!" Hugo smirked, throwing an ice orb at Varian.

The alchemist jumped as it landed, narrowly managing to miss getting his feet stuck in place by the ice. He fell back on the ice upon landing, but then regained his balance and grinned. "You sure about that?" He asked as the blonde attempted to run towards him, but tripped right away. "What the-" Hugo caught himself, then realized his foot was stuck to the ground.

Hugo cursed, ducking as Varian launched a green alchemy ball at his head. Varian advanced slowly, watching for any sudden movements.

As soon as Varian was near enough, Hugo threw a sticky ball at his feet, sticking him to the ground. As Varian freed himself, Hugo subtly reached into the other's bag. He grabbed the neutralizer and a few of Varian's alchemy balls, then sprinkled the neutralizer over his own feet.

The blonde smiled smugly, throwing a second ice ball, which landed directly on Varian's left foot, freezing it.

The brunette's eyes darted down to his supplies, then quickly widened. Hugo's eyes narrowed as a grin formed on Varian's face. What was he planning?

Hugo slowly treaded forward. He watched for any signs Varian was about to attack.

And suddenly, the alchemist moved, giving Hugo no time to react.

Varian squatted and swept his right foot out, knocking Hugo to the ground. The alchemist stuck the blonde in place with his sticky solution, then smirked as he aimed a green orb straight at Hugo's face. The blonde huffed, holding his hands up in defeat. Varian grinned complacently.

The alchemist sprinkled the neutralizer over Hugo and held out a hand. "Heh. Well played, Hairstripe," Hugo chuckled, accepting the alchemist's hand to pull himself up, "In all fairness, though, I was going easy on you." He half joked as he brushed himself off.

Varian snorted. "Yeah, sure you were."

"Best of five?" Hugo suggested. The alchemist shook his head in response.

"Not right now, we should probably get going soon," He replied, glancing over at a sleeping figure near the wagon, "Plus, I need to wake Yong up."

Hugo smiled at Varian as he walked away to wake up the third member of their team. Hugo definitely had other things he'd rather be doing, but things weren't as bad as he'd expected they would be. It had been 3 weeks since Hugo had joined the team. Varian wasn't actually so horrible sometimes, and the kid- Well, he was pretty sweet.

Everyone packed and sat down in the wagon as usual; Hugo in the back, Varian driving, and Yong in the front with Varian. Ruddiger and Olivia went wherever they pleased.

The first few hours of the ride were mostly quiet with only the occasional sound of Hugo saying which way to turn.

"So," Yong broke the silence, "What should we do?"

Hugo looked up from his notebook. "What d'you mean? I'm navigating, Goggles is drivin', and you're..." He hesitated, "I.. Don't actually know what you're doing."

Yong grinned, holding a small object close to the blonde's face. "I'm working on a new firework! This one should make some smoke too, in case we need it!"

Hugo pushed the firework away slightly so he could see it more clearly. "Huh. Interesting."

Yong's face lit up with excitement. "Thanks! I'm hoping it'll help us at the Water Trial- Uh... what is the Water Trial, exactly?"